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The following exercises are suggested for beginning web design or net art students. Complete the exercises and projects then use the evaluation and reflection questions to analyze your work. If you are an advanced learner, you should skip ahead to the projects and, where it is appropriate, create working mock-ups rather than the static images suggested to display a concept.
Section 01: Formalism & Conceptual Art
Build an HTML page that demonstrates a working knowledge of the body tag and its properties. Include other common HTML tags (such as H1, P, and IMG SRC), and embed a video from a public site such as YouTube or Vimeo. Consult Wired's Webmonkey HTML Cheatsheet (http://www.webmonkey.com/2010/02/html_cheatsheet/).
Use your growing knowledge of website design and conceptual art to create a hypertext project influenced by your favorite conceptual artist.
Evaluation & Reflection
Compare your project to the conceptual art work that influenced it. How was your project similar to and different from the original? Did your project deliver a translation, a remix, or an entirely new message? How does viewing your work in a web browser (or other digital online viewing platform) differ from the viewing modality of the original?
Section 02: Collections & Communities
Implement code, such as material provided by Listamatic (http://css.maxdesign.com.au/listamatic/) in your HTML and CSS documents to create a user interface. Learn to save images for the web and to insert rollover images using HTML and CSS.
Build a user interface for an online game, mapping tool, or photo gallery. Construct the interface in Photoshop, Illustrator, or other digital design application. Or, create the interface from analog materials, such as paper or wood, and translate it to the digital environment with a camera or scanner.
Evaluation & Reflection
While planning a user interface, the artist must consider how a player would intend to operate in a game, map, or digital gallery environment. How did your plans change from the beginning of your development process to the end? What words did you consider using as directives for the player/user? How was your design inspired by the goal of the game, map, or gallery?
Section 03: Crowdsourcing & Participation
Learn how CSS and HTML work in tandem. Feed your content to the HTML document and design its display using Cascading Style Sheets. Begin by learning the syntax of CSS: a declaration block consists of a selector followed by properties that are assigned values. The more you understand basic rules of code, the easier it is to implement or modify pre-existing source code. W3 Schools is a helpful online resource for learning CSS (http://www.w3schools.com/css/).
Develop a project that uses public web services and sites, such as YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and so on, to activate a community that participates online with popular or familiar tools.
Evaluation & Reflection
When you began planning your project, did you first decide on a public service (YouTube or Flickr), or did you have a concept that determined which service you would use? How do popular behaviors (online or offline) influence artists' projects? Can you name artists or designers whose work is obviously influenced by popular behaviors? Did you find that your project was limited by the amount of interactivity allotted by the public web service or site?
Section 04: Data Visualization
Continue learning to write CSS code. There are three basic selectors you should learn to use first: tags, classes, and IDs. Modify the appearance of an HTML document using each of these selectors in the inline, embedded, or external CSS file. Learn more about CSS selectors on Selectutorial (http://css.maxdesign.com.au/selectutorial/).
Start by collecting data empirically, using a survey (www.surveymonkey.com can be a helpful tool), or from a public online database. Then develop a concept for using the web to translate that data into a visual experience. While you may not be able to write the code required to execute your idea, you can provide visual examples of how you think the website or tool would work, and how you imagine the results would be displayed.
Evaluation & Reflection
How accurate was your visualization? Was it possible for you to create an accurate display of quantitative information? Is it important for the display of information to reflect the original date accurately? If accuracy is not important, what function does the visualization serve? Did you create a social or political message that is better "coded" for the public as a persuasive image?
Section 05: Error & Noise
Learn how to create a "Container" or "Wrapper" div ID using an HTML div tag with an assigned CSS ID. See Noah Stokes' article, "CSS Floats 101" on A List Apart (http://www.alistapart.com/articles/css-floats-101/) to deepen your understanding of floats and containers. Create a mock-up webpage that demonstrates what your noise project would look like online.
Make something out of nothing. Actually, make something out of some things that are disregarded in popular culture. Locate "noise" on the web. Develop a concept for transforming noise into a new, coherent narrative.
Evaluation & Reflection
How transformative was your project? Can you explain the difference between the original noise (in terms of its usage or intention, its visual identity, the nature of its economic symbolism, and so on) and the outcome of your project? How did you research or define "noise" when you began working on this project?
Section 06: Surveillance
Learn how to add header and footer sections to a webpage using CSS. See http://www.cssstickyfooter.com/
Develop a concept for a project that utilizes surveillance technologies in your community for didactic, expressive, or narrative purposes.
Evaluation & Reflection
How did you find surveillance technologies in your community? What platform would you use to display your finished project? How will you direct members of your community under surveillance to your project?
Section 07: Tactical Media & Democracy
Learn how to adjust the positioning of DIV tags on a webpage. Lynda.com offers videos demonstrating positioning "best practices" at http://www.lynda.com/CSS-tutorials/positioning-best-practices/47543-2.html. Demonstrate an understanding of absolute, relative, and fixed CSS positioning values.
Create a mock-up for a website, application, or online game that helps a citizen (user or player) to understand or interact with her government.
Evaluation & Reflection
To complete this project, you should have focused on one aspect of the government. What makes this aspect of government difficult to understand? How is the public currently passive in relationship to this element of government? Aside from increasing awareness, what would a civilian be motivated to do after interfacing with your project? What were the design influences for this project? How does your project visually relate to official government media?
Section 08: Open Source
Explore open source software, browser add-ons, or code. Inkscape, Gimp, Scribus, Kompozer, and Processing are all open source graphic software applications you can learn from the open source version of xtine burrough and Michael Mandiberg's Digital Foundations, translated with help from the open source community on Floss Manuals (see http://en.flossmanuals.net/digital-foundations/). Or, integrate new code into your own project.
Apply a Creative Commons or GNU license to some or all of the projects you have created in this series.
Evaluation & Reflection
What are the positive and negative factors an artist or designer must consider when determining the type of copyright she will apply to her work? In what types of situations can you imagine using a CC or GNU license?
Section 09: Hacking & Remixing
Add new code to the HTML and CSS you have created by copy and pasting, then modifying it to suit your needs. For instance, you can add and modify an image gallery on your page by downloading the free Visual Lightbox application from http://visuallightbox.com/.
Hacking and remixing have the process of modification in common. Modify pre-existing media—you could start with a website, a web service, an application, a popular photograph (try searching the Library of Congress' Flickr account), or sound or video from the Prelinger Archives (http://www.archive.org/details/prelinger), to create a new project. Transformative works should create a new meaning, story, or visual identity based on the original.
Evaluation & Reflection
Summarize your research on the original media used in your work. How well did you understand the history, intention, message, and consequences of the original media? How did this understanding shape or inform the project that you created by remixing or hacking? What purpose and/or audience does your work serve?
Section 10: Performance & Analog Counterparts
Use your new skills to create an online portfolio of projects you made in response to the suggestions accompanying each section of Net Works.
Develop a concept for a project in which a physical object or community influences a virtual community, or a virtual community influences a physical object/community. Demonstrate proof of your concept with images, information graphics, or webpages.
Evaluation & reflection
How would you engage the community in participation with your project? Is the community the general public or an audience easily within reach? What would motivate the community to engage with your project?
xtine burrough is a media artist, educator, and co-author of Digital Foundations (New Riders/AIGA 2009). Informed by the history of conceptual art, she uses social networking, databases, search engines, blogs, and applications in combination with popular sites like Facebook, YouTube, or Mechanical Turk, to create web communities that promote interpretation and autonomy. xtine believes art shapes social experiences by mediating consumer culture with rebellious practices. As an educator, she bridges the gap between histories, theories, and production in design and new media education. Her work is archived at www.missconceptions.net.
The Net Works companion website provides additional resources to further enhance your inside look into the process of successfully developing thoughtful, innovative digital media. Consult this website to view videos of artist interviews, to find examples of artists' work, step-by-step tutorials, and conference footage, and to access practice exercises designed to relate technical skills to individual projects for each section of the book.


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It has been awhile since we heard any rumors surrounding a new tablet from HTC, but it looks like we should be seeing more soon according to some new leaked pictures. Tonight a previously dormant Twitter account posted a series of pictures that show an unknown HTC tablet.
No details were provided, but we can see the tablet features a slim design with a white casing and an interesting screen layout. One side of the tablet has about an inch of blank space on the front to hold it with, while the rest of the display is bordered by a thinner bezel. Cameras are also spotted on the front and back, but they are placed at the bottom instead of the top.
HTC is rumored to be announcing the One X+ and One S+, both featuring NVIDIA's Tegra 3+, so we assume a similar quad-core chip will appear in this tablet. The leaked pictures appear to come from a promotional video, so we might see this tablet revealed later this week at IFA in Berlin.
Check out the gallery below and let us know what you think of HTC's new tablet. Does it have the style to win you over? What other features would HTC need to include in order for you to place this on your wish list?

subset: commoncrawl


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The Yale Strips
Long ago, on a campus far, far away
While a junior in college, Garry Trudeau took samples of a prospective comic strip to Yale Daily News executive editor Reed Hundt, who told him "They're all right. We publish pretty much anything." Bull Tales first appeared on September 30, 1968, and two years later was re-launched into syndication as Doonesbury.


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Shuttle lands Linux SFF PCs in the UK
One for business, a second for pleasure
Shuttle has begun offering British buyers a range of its XPC machines with Linux pre-installed, the small form-factor PC specialist said today.
Shuttle has two XPCs on offer: the SD3002W and the SD300Q2, the former loaded with SuSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 SP1 and the second with OpenSuSE. They're pitched, respectively, at business and home buyers.
Shuttle's SD3002W: Linux box for business
Both boxes are available with a choice of Intel processors, up to 2GB of 667MHz DDR 2 memory and a variety of SATA hard drive capacities.
Standard system components include Firewire, Gigabit Ethernet, Intel's integrated GMA 950 graphics core, six USB 2.0 ports.
Prices start at €402 (£288) for the SD300Q2 and €436 (£313). Shuttle said they're available immediately from its network of suppliers and direct from the company's website.
Shuttle launched its Linux offerings in April this year, but at that point was only selling the machines to German buyers. In addition to the UK, the Linux initiative now extends to consumers in Austria.
Related reviews
• Shuttle XPC X200M mini PC
• Shuttle XPC SN27P2 small form-factor PC


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All Auction Times are Central Time US. Just scroll down to the bottom of page for current auction system time.
Note: Before bidding on an animal, please check the "Additional Information" area to verify that the seller has delivery available for your country.
Reptile Ring is a coalition of the best breeders coming together to offer top quality, captive bred reptiles in an exciting reptile auction format. If you like reptile auctions, you have just reached the pinacle website for the best in reptile auctions. For the best in ball python auctions, boa auctions, reticulated python auctions and all other reptile auctions.
|Current Bid
|Reserve Price Not Met
|Auction Ends
|Sunday, August 12, 2018 8:00:00 PM
|Bid History
|8 Bids
|High Bidder
|Auction Started
|Wednesday, August 1, 2018 6:44:00 PM
|Listed By NERDINC
7 Plaistow, NH US
|Page Views
|205 View More Listings
Hatch Year: 2018
LOW RESERVE AUCTION - Payment must be made within 24 hours of winning
We ship all months of the year. We have been shipping and selling for over 20 years and have an amazing track record getting our customers their animals in a timely and SAFE manner. We will not ship until we confirm the order with you and confirm that you will have someone home to receive your new pet.
If you have any questions regarding specific animals or you feel more comfortable dealing with us directly you can contact us via email at email@example.com
|Additional Information
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|Delivery US
|Delivery Hong Kong
|Delivery Hamm Germany


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Objective: A music intervention method in the management of pain was recently developed while taking account of recommendations in the scientific literature. The objective of this study was to assess the usefulness of this music intervention to the management of patients with chronic pain.
Methods: A controlled, single-blind, randomized trial was used. Eighty-seven patients presenting with lumbar pain, fibromyalgia, inflammatory disease, or neurological disease were included in the study.
During their hospitalization, the intervention arm (n=44) received at least 2 daily sessions of music listening between Day 0 and Day 10, associated with their standard treatment, and then pursued the music intervention at home until Day 60 using a multimedia player in which the music listening software program had been installed.
The control arm received standard treatment only (n=43). The end points measured at Day 0, Day 10, Day 60, and Day 90 were: pain (VAS), anxiety-depression (HAD) and the consumption of medication.
Results: At day 60 in the music intervention arm, this technique enabled a more significant reduction (P<0.001) in pain (6.3±1.7 at Day 0 vs. 3±1.7 at Day 60) when compared with the arm without music intervention (6.2±1.5 at Day 0 vs. 4.6±1.7 at Day 60). In addition, music intervention contributed to significantly reducing both anxiety/depression and the consumption of anxiolytic agents.
Discussion: These results confirm the value of music intervention to the management of chronic pain and anxiety/depression. This music intervention method appears to be useful in managing chronic pain as it enables a significant reduction in the consumption of medication.
Source: The Clinical Journal of Pain, Oct 13, 2011. PMID:22001666, by Guétin S, Giniès P, Siou DK, Picot MC, Pommié C, Guldner E, Gosp AM, Ostyn K, Coudeyre E, Touchon J. Service de Neurologie, Centre Mémoire de Ressources et de Recherches, INSERMU 888 ‡Centre d'Evaluation et de Traitement de la Douleur §Département d'Information Médicale (DIM), CHRU Montpellier Laboratoire de Psychologie Clinique et Psychopathologie, Université Paris-Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cite´, Paris CHU Clermont-Ferrand, Service de Médecine Physique et de Réadaptation, Clermont-Ferrand, France.


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Friday, March 4, 2011
Careers With Computer Science Degrees
Bachelor Degree (Computer Science Discipline) - Explore Efficiently Your Computer Science Info
B.C.A. Department
:COURSE DURATION AND SUBJECTS: B.C.A. Course will be a full time six semesters (Three Years) duration. Each semester will be of one academic term ( 14 weeks). The entire examination shall be of 3600 marks.
Subject No Name of Subject 1st sem. 1-1 Accountancy-I 1-2 Industrial Economics 1-3 Fundamental of Statistics 1-4 Fundamentals of IT 1-5 Communication Skills 1-6 Operating System-I (concept & Dos) 2nd sem. 2-1 Accountancy-II 2-2 Industrial Organization 2-3 Elements of Mathematics 2-4 Programming in C Language 2-5 MS-Office 2-6 Operating System-II(Unix) 3rd sem. 3-1 E-Business Essentials 3-2 Business Law-I 3-3 Principles of Management 3-4 OOPS (Using C++) 3-5 Data Structure & Algorithm 3-6 DBMS Using FoxPro 4th Sem. 4-1 Cost Account 4-2 Business Law-II 4-3 Entrepreneurship 4-4 Java Programming 4-5 Networking Concepts 4-6 MIS 5th Sem. 5-1 Management Accounting 5-2 Organization behavior 5-3 Business Elective-I 5-4 RDBMS Concept Using Oracle 5-5 Internet Fundamental & Web Designing 5-6 IT Elective-I 6th Sem. 6-1 Business Law-III 6-2 Business Elective-II 6-3 Elements of Commercial Portals 6-4 System Programming 6-5 IT Elective-II 6-6 Project
B.C.A. Course will be a full time six semesters (Three Years) duration. Each semester will be of one academic term ( 14 weeks). The entire examination shall be of 3600 marks.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Google Chrome Operating System ( G.O.S)
Google Chrome has always been a little more than a browser: it's optimized for running web applications , each tab runs as a separate process, the interface is minimalistic and there's even a task manager. "We realized that the web had evolved from mainly simple text pages to rich, interactive applications and that we needed to completely rethink the browser. What we really needed was not just a browser, but also a modern platform for web pages and applications, and that's what we set out to build," said Google in September 2008.
Google's blog announces a natural extension of the Chrome project: an operating system for netbooks. " Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks. Later this year we will open-source its code, and netbooks running Google Chrome OS will be available for consumers in the second half of 2010. (...) Google Chrome OS will run on both x86 as well as ARM chips and we are working with multiple OEMs to bring a number of netbooks to market next year. The software architecture is simple — Google Chrome running within a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel."
As people use more and more web applications, the operating system becomes less important and it makes no sense to pay for it. The desktop mail client could be replaced by Gmail, the calendaring application could be replaced by Google Calendar, the office suite has lightweight alternatives: Google Docs and Zoho, it makes more sense to use an online feed reader like Google Reader, your scientific calculator is less powerful than Wolfram Alpha and you'll rarely need a video player when you have YouTube, Hulu and other video sites.
This idea is not new and there are already operating systems optimized for the browser. For example, Good OS announced last year Cloud, an operating system that "integrates a web browser with a compressed Linux operating system kernel for immediate access to Internet, integration of browser and rich client applications, and full control f the computer from inside the browser". If Google manages to create a great user interface, the new operating system could be very successful.
Fore More Details : - http://bcaforcomputer.blogspot.com/
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|August 20, 2018, 10:40:56 AM
|DC Wiki
|Pages: [1] Go Down
|Topic: Golden Sun The Lost Age Editor V0.3 (Read 7353 times)
|0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
August 02, 2018, 07:42:12 PMCaledor: patch for TLA uploaded again cause i forgot to update descriptions for 3 shields
August 02, 2018, 01:16:14 AMCaledor: Don't want to triple post so I'll just announce here that v1.71 is out. I updated my last post.
July 29, 2018, 12:18:00 PMKyleRunner: Let me see...
July 28, 2018, 08:12:34 PMFox: What value do you see at 08000468? (Or 00000468 in hex editor) 0801319D or 08F9EE50?
July 28, 2018, 07:11:11 PMKyleRunner: "there is an easy fix by changing a pointer back to what it was suppose to be"... Hmmm... How?
July 27, 2018, 10:11:06 AMFox: Bootleg*
July 27, 2018, 10:09:03 AMFox: There are two ROMs that can be found on the internet, one may have the MEGAROMs boot load stuff. (So not truely clean.) ... If you get a screen while booting the game and holding L+R (I think it was?), then you know you have it, and your ROM is not truely "clean"... it is unfortunate, but there is an easy fix by changing a pointer back to what it was suppose to be..
July 27, 2018, 05:10:13 AMMaxiPower: Hello World
July 25, 2018, 11:09:23 PMKyleRunner: Well... here's The problem that needs solving: my GSTLA translation patch only works on a clean rom, with specific CRC.
July 25, 2018, 07:59:37 PMFox: I am not sure I understand? If there was such a program to "clean" a dirty ROM dump, what exactly would it do?
July 25, 2018, 12:37:42 PMKyleRunner: Hello, guys. Could someone teach me how to "clean" a dirty Golden Sun rom dump? Is there a program or something?
July 25, 2018, 01:37:40 AMAtrius: @Fox, yeah... I was expecting it to take 2 weeks at most...
July 25, 2018, 12:03:01 AMMajora: Yes, I believe so. Think they were made public a while ago prior to the site issue
July 24, 2018, 08:26:45 PMLuna_blade: is it normal that I can see all clans?
July 24, 2018, 08:25:41 PMLuna_blade: Nice to see it is back!
July 23, 2018, 11:01:36 PMFox: Yes. I was expecting it to be a little while longer, but it is great to see that Atrius delivered.
July 23, 2018, 02:30:46 AMMajora: Thank you for getting the site back online!
July 21, 2018, 09:19:06 PMSalanewt: Time to upload that "EXP gain when KO'd" patch I made a month ago.
July 21, 2018, 09:18:48 PMSalanewt: Oh hey, the site's back up!
July 18, 2018, 10:49:52 PMroger: I can post but it goes to an error page when I submit.


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Hi, I'm Miss Marm!I can help you write your papers, essays or creative writing assignments...
FAQs »
By: Miss Marm
In terms of thrills and chills, restrictive commas are right up there with toe lint. To make this post more fun, let's pretend the Clark in question is 6'2", muscly, and brooding.
Josieiz writes:
I have a quick grammar question.
Which one is correct?
My brother Clark went to the store to buy some oranges.
My brother, Clark, went to the store to buy some oranges.
I am just not sure if you are suppose to separate "Clark" from the sentence by commas or if "brother" is just describing "Clark."
I suppose I am mostly confused because you can take "Clark" out and it still makes sense.
Here's the short answer: both sentences are grammatically
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On Tuesday, I wrote that I've decided to track my finances again. I'm doing fine financially, but after a few months of not watching my income and expenses closely, I feel a little lost. I miss the ability to know exactly where my money's going.
I had intended to install the new desktop version of Quicken, which is what I've been using for years. (Before that, I used Andrew Tobias's Managing Your Money, but that hasn't been updated since 1995!) In the comments to Tuesday's post, several readers asked why I don't just use Mint. Good question. I don't really have a good answer.
Mint is a free web-based personal-finance program. Mint automagically connects with your bank accounts, your credit card accounts, and — in theory, at least — your investment accounts. Because Mint fetches data for you, there's no tedious data entry. Mint has been around for a couple of years, but I've been reluctant to try it.
I haven't tried Mint for several reasons:
- It didn't offer all the features I wanted, particularly the ability to track investment accounts.
- I didn't like the revenue model. Mint makes money by pushing new financial products on users. I've since realized that — duh! — that's the same way Get Rich Slowly makes money, as well as the rest of the financial web.
- I was loyal to the folks at Wesabe, a Mint competitor and friend to GRS. Unfortunately, Wesabe shut down earlier this year. (You can read about it here.)
- Though I fully embrace the Internet Age, I'm still wary of giving one service access to all of my accounts.
But enough GRS readers have sung the praises of Mint over the past two years that I finally decided to give it a try. Yesterday, I set up my Mint account.
Getting Started
If you've signed up for any other web-based service, you know what it's like to register for Mint. After you enter your e-mail address, your zip code, and your password, you're ready to go.
Once you've registered, Mint prompts you to enter your financial accounts. You need just two pieces of information to connect to any account.
After you supply your login info for each bank or credit card company, Mint connects to the financial institution and slurps up your recent transactions. (I was pleased when my local credit union connected without incident.)
As you set up your Mint account, you can also add loans, real estate (such as your home), vehicles, and "other" accounts. Other accounts include:
- Cash (or debt)
- Collectibles (such as my comic-book collection)
- Jewelry
- Furniture and appliances
- And a variety of miscellaneous items
You can also set up e-mail and text alerts based on a variety of parameters. This feature seems very handy, especially in this age of identity theft. I keep tabs on my accounts regularly to be sure there's no monkey business going on; Mint lets me automate that process.
Mint also allows you the option to enter demographic information (which I did),; I'm sure this leads to better-targeted advertising!
You don't have to set everything up at the start. You can edit your accounts whenever you want by clicking "Your Accounts" at the top of any page. Good thing, too, because as I'll share in a moment, the set-up process wasn't without glitches.
Using Mint
You make your way around Mint through a handful of tabs at the top of each page. These include the following.
The Overview section gives you a Big Picture view of your finances, including account balances and alerts. It's meant to be your home base in Mint.
In the Transactions tab, you have access to a day-by-day list of your income and expenses. It's here that you can view and edit each of your purchases (and deposits). Mint automatically assigns a category to each transaction. It does a fairly good job of guessing, but it's not perfect. Fortunately, it seems easy to make changes.
For example, here I'm telling Mint that the bill from Qwest isn't for a home phone (because we don't have one), but for our internet service.
I like that this section lets you view transactions from all accounts at once or narrow things to a single account. Handy.
The Budgets section lets you, well, erect a budget to keep your spending focused. I haven't had time to play around here, so I can't comment on its utility. I'm hoping that Mint will allow me to put my beloved Balanced Money Formula (or some other broad budget framework) into use.
The Goals tab lets you set savings goals, and then walks you through the process of creating a realistic budget for each goal. For example, Kris and I want to go to South America in 2012 (or 2013). Here's the start of the goal-setting process:
You can even create custom goals if the pre-packaged goals (get out of debt, buy a car, and so on) don't meet your needs. The goals section is one of my favorite features of Mint.
With the Trends tab, Mint shows you standard charts and graphs. I'm sure these will be useful in time — in fact, they're the main reason I want to track my spending! — but at the beginning, there's not much to see.
For one thing, there's only about a month of data. For another, a lot of that data is mis-categorized. For example, Mint thinks my payments to State Farm fall in the Financial category. To me, they need to be in a separate Insurance category.
The Trends area will become more useful as Mint accumulates more of my financial data, and as I make sure it's categorized so that it means something to me.
Investments and Ways to Save
The final two tabs are Investments and Ways to Save. Both of these deserve a closer look.
A bad investment?
Not everything is kittens and roses with Mint. In fact, from what I can tell, the Investment feature doesn't work at all.
I had real trouble connecting Mint to my Fidelity account. I used the correct login and password, but the connection wouldn't go through. Mint offered only a cryptic "Your bank needs you!" message without explaining what the problem was.
Clicking the supplied link just took me to the default Fidelity page, where there was no indication that Fidelity was aware there was a problem.
Puzzled, I decided took a look at the Mint discussion forums. Sure enough, other folks were experiencing similar problems. In fact, there seem to be ongoing issues connecting Mint to Fidelity, and have been for months. It's not an encouraging sign that there are no solutions to be had.
I tried to brainstorm some quick fixes, but no dice. Strangely, however, when I went to the Account Settings page, the Fidelity accounts were listed. When I closed the settings page and visited the Investments page, they didn't appear. Huh?
The "add investment account" tool indicated that Mint had now connected to Fidelity — but it showed two of every account: the actual account and a phantom account with a balance of zero dollars. Huh?
When I tried to bring these investment accounts into Mint, I was asked to make additional corrections. After doing so, Mint listed both the real and ghost accounts with zero balances. Huh?
None of this made sense, and there was no help to be found.
After nearly an hour of slogging through various iterations of this madness, I gave up. It seems strange that Mint offers an investment "feature" when it's not ready for prime time. (Or even, apparently, for the late late show.)
Whenever I see a free online service, the first thing I want to know is how the company makes money. Mint makes money through its recommendation engine. Mint looks at your financial habits and existing accounts, and then offers Ways to Save. If you click on this tab, you receive offers in a variety of categories from partner companies. If you sign up, Mint is paid a commission.
This is basically the same revenue model used by personal finance blogs like Get Rich Slowly and The Simple Dollar, as well as big-name sites like Bankrate and Card Ratings. Mint takes it to a new level by comparing your existing accounts and habits to other accounts in its database. For example, here Mint shows that I could save $336 over three years if I moved checking account from my credit union to FNBO Direct.
These recommendations are probably very useful to many Mint users, and they're much less annoying than I feared they would be.
The bottom line
After using Mint for only a few hours, I like what I've seen. Mostly.
The interface is slick, and I can tell the automation is going to be nice. This will indeed let me to track my spending, and may even help prompt me to save for future goals. My big beef is that my investment accounts won't integrate. This isn't necessarily a deal-breaker (I don't make a lot of stock trades), but it's annoying. I'm used to tracking all of my financial data from within Quicken, and I'd like to do that here. Right now, I can't.
I'll use Mint for a few months to see how things go. If I can remember, I'll post an update on Mint during the first part of April, after I've used it full-time for three months. (I don't plan to make Mint a habit until January 1st.)
Meanwhile, perhaps it's time for me to dig through the GRS archives. I've written before about lesser-known personal-finance programs; maybe I should give one of them a spin in the meantime.
If you've used Mint for months or years, I'd love to hear your impressions. Have you managed to get the investment tab to work? (With Fidelity?) Are you pleased with the service? How would you improve it? What should a new user like me know before I get too far?


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SOURCE: Theravance, Inc.
February 12, 2013 16:05 ET
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - Feb 12, 2013) - Theravance, Inc. (NASDAQ: THRX) (the "Company") reported today its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2012. Revenue for the full year was $135.8 million. Net loss for the fourth quarter and full year of 2012 was $31.3 million and $18.5 million, respectively, compared with $37.0 million and $115.3 million for the same periods of 2011. Net loss per share was $0.33 and $0.20 for the fourth quarter and full year of 2012, respectively, compared with a net loss per share of $0.45 and $1.41 for the same periods of 2011. Cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities totaled $343.7 million as of December 31, 2012, an increase of $102.8 million from December 31, 2011.
"Theravance made significant progress in 2012, particularly in our lead respiratory programs partnered with GSK," said Rick E Winningham, Chief Executive Officer. "Looking forward, 2013 will be more significant for Theravance with potential regulatory events for RELVAR™/BREO™, ANORO™, and VIBATIV®. In addition, we continue to progress our internal programs, including Phase 2 studies in fibromyalgia and ADHD with TD-9855, a Phase 2b study in COPD with TD-4208, and a Phase 2 study in gastroparesis with velusetrag. Overall, we are well positioned both strategically and financially."
Program Highlights
Respiratory Programs with GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK)
RELVAR™ or BREO™ (Fluticasone Furoate/Vilanterol, FF/VI)
FF/VI is an investigational once-daily inhaled corticosteroid (ICS)/long-acting beta2 agonist (LABA) combination treatment, comprising fluticasone furoate (FF) and vilanterol (VI), for the maintenance treatment of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and patients with asthma. FF/VI is administered by a new dry powder inhaler called ELLIPTA™. RELVAR™ (FF/VI for the European Union (EU) and Japan), BREO™ (FF/VI for the United States (U.S.)), and ELLIPTA™ (for the EU, U.S. and Japan) are proposed brand names and use of these brand names has not yet been approved by any regulatory authority.
In September 2012, GSK and Theravance announced that the New Drug Application (NDA) for FF/VI for patients with COPD was accepted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), indicating that the application is sufficiently complete to permit a substantive review. The Prescription Drug User Fee Act goal date was confirmed as May 12, 2013 and the FDA's Pulmonary-Allergy Drugs Advisory Committee is scheduled to discuss the NDA for BREO™ for COPD at a meeting on March 7, 2013. GSK and Theravance also reported that the Marketing Authorization Application for FF/VI for COPD and asthma was validated by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and GSK also submitted a Japanese New Drug Application for FF/VI for patients with COPD and asthma in September 2012.
ANORO™ (Umeclidinium Bromide/Vilanterol, UMEC/VI)
UMEC/VI is a once-daily investigational medicine, combining a long-acting muscarinic antagonist (LAMA), UMEC, and a LABA, VI, for the maintenance treatment of patients with COPD. UMEC/VI is administered by the ELLIPTA™ dry powder inhaler.
In December 2012, GSK and Theravance announced the submission to the FDA of a NDA for UMEC/VI for patients with COPD. In January 2013, GSK and Theravance announced the submission of a regulatory application to the EMA for UMEC/VI for patients with COPD, which has now been validated by the EMA. Regulatory submissions for UMEC/VI are planned in other countries during the course of 2013.
Inhaled Bifunctional Muscarinic Antagonist-Beta2 Agonist (MABA)
GSK961081 ('081) is an investigational, single molecule bifunctional bronchodilator with both muscarinic antagonist and beta2 receptor agonist activities. Based on the results from the Phase 2b study, GSK and Theravance plan to advance '081 monotherapy into Phase 3 in 2013 and the '081/FF combination into Phase 3-enabling studies shortly.
Bacterial Infections Program
VIBATIV® (telavancin)
In November, 2012, Theravance announced a favorable outcome of the FDA's Anti-Infective Drugs Advisory Committee meeting on VIBATIV® (telavancin) for the treatment of nosocomial pneumonia (NP) due to susceptible isolates of Gram-positive microorganisms. Theravance remains in dialogue with the FDA on the NP indication and is working toward re-establishing consistent product supply.
Central Nervous System (CNS)/Pain Program
Oral Peripheral Mu Opioid Receptor Antagonist - TD-1211
TD-1211 is an investigational once-daily, orally administered, peripherally selective, multivalent inhibitor of the mu opioid receptor designed with a goal of alleviating gastrointestinal side effects of opioid therapy without affecting analgesia. In July 2012, Theravance announced positive topline results from the Phase 2b Study 0084, the key study in the Phase 2b program evaluating TD-1211 as potential treatment for chronic, non-cancer pain patients with opioid-induced constipation. The Phase 2b program consisted of three studies (0074, 0076 and 0084) designed to evaluate doses and dosing regimens for Phase 3. We are currently evaluating our Phase 3 strategy due to potentially evolving FDA requirements for this class of drug.
Monoamine Reuptake Inhibitor - TD-9855
TD-9855 is an investigational norepinephrine and serotonin reuptake inhibitor for the treatment of central nervous system conditions such as Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and chronic pain. TD-9855 is being evaluated in an ongoing Phase 2 safety and efficacy study in adults with ADHD. In addition, we initiated a Phase 2 study with TD-9855 in patients with fibromyalgia in December 2012.
Theravance Respiratory Program
Long-Acting Muscarinic Antagonist - TD-4208
In November 2011, we announced positive topline results from a Phase 2a single-dose COPD study of TD-4208, an investigational inhaled LAMA discovered by Theravance. In this study, TD-4208 met the primary endpoint by demonstrating a statistically significant mean change from baseline in peak forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) compared to placebo, and was generally well tolerated. In December 2012, we initiated a Phase 2b study to evaluate the safety and pharmacokinetics of multiple doses of TD-4208.
GI Motility Dysfunction Program
Velusetrag, an oral, investigational medicine dosed once daily, is a highly selective agonist with high intrinsic activity at the human 5-HT4 receptor. In October 2012, we entered into an exclusive development and commercialization agreement with Alfa Wassermann for velusetrag, our lead compound in the 5-HT4 program, covering the EU, Russia, China, Mexico and certain other countries. In January 2013, Theravance and Alfa Wassermann announced the initiation of a Phase 2 proof-of-concept study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of velusetrag for the treatment of patients with diabetic or idiopathic gastroparesis.
Financial Results
Revenue was $5.8 million for the fourth quarter of 2012 compared with $5.4 million for the same period in 2011, an increase of $0.4 million. For the full year of 2012, revenue was $135.8 million, compared with $24.5 million for the full year of 2011. The increase for the fourth quarter of 2012 was primarily due to the recognition of a portion of the upfront licensing fee from our collaboration arrangement with Merck, partially offset by a decrease of royalty revenue from sales of VIBATIV®. The increase for the full year of 2012 reflected the accelerated recognition of deferred revenue of $125.8 million from the global collaboration arrangement with Astellas Pharma Inc. (Astellas) for the development and commercialization of VIBATIV® in the first quarter of 2012. This accelerated recognition was the result of the termination of the Astellas agreement on January 6, 2012.
Research and Development
Research and development expense for the fourth quarter of 2012 decreased to $28.1 million compared with $32.5 million for the same period in 2011. For the full year of 2012, research and development expense was $117.9 million compared with $103.6 million for the full year 2011. The decrease in the fourth quarter over the same period last year was primarily due to the completion of Phase 2 clinical activities related to TD-1211, a reduction of research and development costs due to funding the Company's research programs by collaboration partners, partially offset by higher costs related to clinical activities for TD-9855. The full year of 2012 increase was primarily due to increases in outside services related the Phase 2 clinical activities for TD-1211, TD-9855, higher employee related costs and costs related to VIBATIV® Advisory Committee activities. Total external research and development expense for the fourth quarter and full year of 2012 was $10.3 million and $43.1 million, respectively, compared with $12.9 million and $30.8 million, respectively, for the fourth quarter and the full year of 2011. Total research and development stock-based compensation expense for the fourth quarter and full year of 2012 was $3.3 million and $13.7 million, respectively, compared with $3.4 million and $13.4 million, respectively, for the fourth quarter and full year of 2011.
General and Administrative
General and administrative expense for the fourth quarter of 2012 decreased to $7.7 million from $8.5 million for the same period in 2011. For the full year of 2012, general and administrative expense was $30.9 million compared with $30.7 million for the full year of 2011. Total general and administrative stock-based compensation expense for the fourth quarter and the full year of 2012 was $2.4 million and $10.1 million, respectively, compared with $2.8 million and $11.5 million, respectively, for the fourth quarter and full year of 2011.
Cash and Cash Equivalents
Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities totaled $343.7 million as of December 31, 2012, an increase of $102.8 million from December 31, 2011. This increase was primarily due to net proceeds of $229.3 million received from the Company's private placements of common stock to an affiliate of GSK, partially offset by cash used in operations of $128.0 million. On January 24, 2013, we announced the closing of a convertible subordinated notes offering with net proceeds of approximately $244.4 million which are not reflected in the December 31, 2012 cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities balance.
Conference Call and Webcast Information
As previously announced, Theravance has scheduled a conference call to discuss this announcement beginning at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time today. To participate in the live call by telephone, please dial (877) 837-3908 from the U.S., or (973) 890-8166 for international callers. Those interested in listening to the conference call live via the internet may do so by visiting Theravance's web site at www.theravance.com. To listen to the live call via the internet, please go to the web site 15 minutes prior to its start to register, download, and install any necessary audio software.
A replay of the conference call will be available on Theravance's web site for 30 days through March 14, 2013. An audio replay will also be available through 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on February 19, 2013 by dialing (855) 859-2056 from the U.S., or (404) 537-3406 for international callers, and entering confirmation code 85984300.
About Theravance
Theravance is a biopharmaceutical company with a pipeline of internally discovered product candidates and strategic collaborations with pharmaceutical companies. Theravance is focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of small molecule medicines across a number of therapeutic areas including respiratory disease, bacterial infections, and central nervous system (CNS)/pain. Theravance's key programs include: RELVAR™ or BREO™ (FF/VI), ANORO™ (UMEC/VI) and MABA (Bifunctional Muscarinic Antagonist-Beta2 Agonist), each partnered with GlaxoSmithKline plc, and its oral Peripheral Mu Opioid Receptor Antagonist program. By leveraging its proprietary insight of multivalency to drug discovery, Theravance is pursuing a best-in-class strategy designed to discover superior medicines in areas of significant unmet medical need. For more information, please visit Theravance's web site at www.theravance.com.
THERAVANCE®, the Theravance logo, and MEDICINES THAT MAKE A DIFFERENCE® are registered trademarks of Theravance, Inc.
RELVAR™ or BREO™ (FF/VI) and ANORO™ (UMEC/VI) are investigational medicines and are not currently approved anywhere in the world. RELVAR™, BREO™, ANORO™ and ELLIPTA™ are trademarks of the GlaxoSmithKline group of companies. The use of these brand names has not yet been approved by any regulatory authority.
VIBATIV® is a registered trademark of Theravance, Inc.
VIBATIV® Important Safety Information (U.S.)
Fetal Risk
Women of childbearing potential should have a serum pregnancy test prior to administration of VIBATIV®. Avoid use of VIBATIV® during pregnancy unless the potential benefit to the patient outweighs the potential risk to the fetus. Adverse developmental outcomes observed in three animal species at clinically relevant doses raise concerns about potential adverse developmental outcomes in humans. If not already pregnant, women of childbearing potential should use effective contraception during VIBATIV® treatment.
New onset or worsening renal impairment occurred in patients who received VIBATIV®. Renal adverse events were more likely to occur in patients with baseline comorbidities known to predispose patients to kidney dysfunction and in patients who received concomitant medications known to affect kidney function. Monitor renal function in all patients receiving VIBATIV® prior to initiation of treatment, during treatment, and at the end of therapy. If renal function decreases, the benefit of continuing VIBATIV® versus discontinuing and initiating therapy with an alternative agent should be assessed. Clinical cure rates in telavancin-treated patients were lower in patients with baseline CrCl ≤ 50 mL/min compared to those with CrCl > 50 mL/min. Consider these data when selecting antibacterial therapy for use in patients with baseline moderate/severe renal impairment.
Geriatric Use
Telavancin is substantially excreted by the kidney, and the risk of adverse reactions may be greater in patients with impaired renal function. Because elderly patients are more likely to have decreased renal function, care should be taken in dose selection in this age group.
Infusion Related Reactions
VIBATIV® is a lipoglycopeptide antibacterial agent and should be administered over a period of 60 minutes to reduce the risk of infusion-related reactions. Rapid intravenous infusions of the glycopeptide class of antimicrobial agents can cause "Red-man Syndrome" like reactions including: flushing of the upper body, urticaria, pruritus, or rash.
Clostridium difficile-Associated Diarrhea
Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea (CDAD) has been reported with nearly all antibacterial agents and may range in severity from mild diarrhea to fatal colitis. CDAD must be considered in all patients who present with diarrhea following antibiotic use.
Development of Drug-Resistant Bacteria
Prescribing VIBATIV® in the absence of a proven or strongly suspected bacterial infection is unlikely to provide benefit to the patient and increases the risk of the development of drug-resistant bacteria. As with other antibacterial drugs, use of VIBATIV® may result in overgrowth of nonsusceptible organisms, including fungi.
QTc Prolongation
Caution is warranted when prescribing VIBATIV® to patients taking drugs known to prolong the QT interval. In a study involving healthy volunteers, VIBATIV® prolonged the QTc interval. Use of VIBATIV® should be avoided in patients with congenital long QT syndrome, known prolongation of the QTc interval, uncompensated heart failure, or severe left ventricular hypertrophy.
Coagulation Test Interference
VIBATIV® does not interfere with coagulation, but does interfere with certain tests used to monitor coagulation such as prothrombin time, international normalized ratio, activated partial thromboplastin time, activated clotting time, and coagulation based factor Xa tests. Blood samples for these coagulation tests should be collected as close as possible prior to a patient's next dose of VIBATIV®.
Adverse Reactions
The most common adverse reactions (≥ 10% of patients treated with VIBATIV®) observed in the Phase 3 cSSSI clinical trials were taste disturbance, nausea, vomiting, and foamy urine.
In the Phase 3 cSSSI clinical trials, serious adverse events were reported in 7% of patients treated with VIBATIV® and most commonly included renal, respiratory, or cardiac events. Serious adverse events were reported in 5% of vancomycin-treated patients, and most commonly included cardiac, respiratory, or infectious events.
For full Prescribing Information, including Boxed Warning and Medication Guide in the US, please visit www.VIBATIV.com.
This press release contains and the conference call will contain certain "forward-looking" statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 regarding, among other things, statements relating to goals, plans, objectives and future events. Theravance intends such forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements contained in Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Examples of such statements include statements relating to the status and timing of clinical studies, data analysis and communication of results, statements regarding the potential benefits and mechanisms of action of drug candidates, statements concerning the timing of seeking regulatory approval of our product candidates (including with respect to VIBATIV® statements regarding any expectation that we will be able to respond fully or adequately to FDA's requests using currently existing clinical data and any expectation that the FDA will approve the VIBATIV® nosocomial pneumonia NDA on the basis of existing preclinical and clinical data or at all), statements concerning the enabling capabilities of Theravance's approach to drug discovery and its proprietary insights, statements concerning expectations for the discovery, development and commercialization of our product candidates, and projections of revenue, expenses and other financial items. These statements are based on the current estimates and assumptions of the management of Theravance as of the date of this press release and the conference call and are subject to risks, uncertainties, changes in circumstances, assumptions and other factors that may cause the actual results of Theravance to be materially different from those reflected in its forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements include, among others, risks related to delays or difficulties in commencing or completing clinical and non-clinical studies, the potential that results of clinical or non-clinical studies indicate product candidates are unsafe or ineffective, our dependence on third parties in the conduct of our clinical studies, delays or failure to achieve regulatory approvals for product candidates, risks of relying on third-party manufacturers for the supply of our product and product candidates and risks of collaborating with third parties to discover, develop and commercialize products. These and other risks are described in greater detail under the heading "Risk Factors" contained in Theravance's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on October 31, 2012 and in Theravance's prospectus supplement filed with the SEC on January 18, 2013 pursuant to Rule 424(b)(5). Given these uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Theravance assumes no obligation to update its forward-looking statements.
Contact Information:Michael W. Aguiar
Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
650-808-4100 firstname.lastname@example.com
Contact Information:Michael W. Aguiar
Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
650-808-4100 firstname.lastname@example.com
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Cleda Faye Phillips Gustafson
Cleda Faye Phillips Gustafson, age 74, of Malvern passed away March 4, 2013
in Hot Springs. She was born April 14, 1938 to the late Bea Wyle and Enola Lee Brown Phillips. She was a member of South Main Missionary Baptist Church, a homemaker and worked as a nurses aid at a nursing home. Other than her parents, she was preceded in death by her son, Noel C. Gustafson and her brother, Carlton Phillips.
Survivors include her husband, Derry Gustafson, to whom she married on February 26, 1952; son, Paul J. Gustafson of Malvern; daughter, Robin A. Patrick of Grand Bay, Alabama; brothers, Royce Phillips of Benton and Bobby Phillips of Glendale; sisters, Dorothy Logue of Glendale, Margie Lamb of Belvedere IL, and Patricia Gains of Rockford IL and six grandchildren, Shawn Michael Gustafson, Nicole Marie Gustafson, Elizabeth Grace Carlson, Heidi Danielle Patrick, Haley Ann Patrick, and Robert Michael Patrick.
Visitation will be held Thursday, March 7th from 6:00-8:00pm at Regency Funeral Home.
Funeral Service will be Friday, March 8th at 10:30am at South Main Missionary Baptist Church with Pastor Gene Fulcher officiating. Interment will be at Leek-Drake Cemetery in Star City. Pallbearers will be Dave Lungberg, Mark Benford, Ken Sams, Rodney Pulley, Gene Clements and RonnieVerser.
Arrangements are by Regency Funeral Home. You may sign the guest book at www.regencyfuneralhome.com.


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Former Albion athlete inspires
After amputation, Babcock eyes Paralympic Games
When Deanna Babcock was twice voted by her teammates as the most inspirational member of the Briton cross country team, perhaps it was foreshadowing. No one could have predicted the adversity she would be forced to overcome soon after her graduation from Albion.
Besides running cross country, Babcock was a member of Albion's track team, competing in the 1500-meter run and pole vault. Yet it was her dream since high school to be a triathlete.
"She was a very intense competitor," cross country coach Hayden Smith said. "She was very positive and upbeat, and a real joy to be around."
After enrolling at North Carolina State to pursue a Master's Degree in Soil Science, Babcock quickly joined the school's triathlon club. Triathlon combines swimming, biking and running into one race. She was preparing for her first competition when tragedy struck.
Babcock was training in the pool when her heart stopped. After nearly drowning, lifeguards performed CPR and hypothermia protocol to maintain her brain and organ function. Because of kidney failure and other problems, Babcock's arteries collapsed, and her left leg would have to be amputated above the knee. She spent four weeks in a coma and 55 days in the hospital -- but against all odds she survived.
"I was devastated when I learned she might not survive," Lesley Jones said. "By the grace of God and the skill of the talented medical team at WakeMed Health and Hospital, I was able to visit her several weeks later when she had emerged from her coma."
Babcock's recovery was not easy. At first she required assistance for everyday tasks such as lifting her laptop computer. Even sitting up in bed left her out of breath.
"When I came out of a coma I was incredibly deconditioned," Babcock said. "From there the personal goal wasn't to get active, it was to get better."
However, the support of Babcock's friends, coaches, and family proved invaluable. They encouraged her to keep pursuing her fitness goals. They recognized that despite her accident, she was still the same person.
"I quickly discovered that her personality was intact, and the first thing she said to me when I visited her was 'Hi, coach, how are you doing?'" Smith said. "She was the same old Deanna. Her intellect was still there."
Babcock acknowledges just how important that encouragement was. She said it was their support that kept her from giving up when she was at her lowest points.
"That's what friends are for. All of the times when you are not confident, it's friends who let you know that you got this," Babcock said. "They helped me carry my vision when I couldn't do it myself."
Babcock's training started slowly, and increased incrementally. In the beginning she could ride only five minutes on the stationary bike. She would swim just 25 yards before taking a break. Still, her effort remained resolute.
"I have been especially amazed at Deanna's attitude towards athletics," Jones said. "I think Deanna's ability to adapt to new situations has been a critical asset to her while learning to adjust to life after the accident."
Her training eventually paid off, and today Babcock has returned to triathlon.. She also runs in road-race competitions and swims competitively as well. She is usually the only physically challenged athlete participating.
"I do check to see how many able-bodied competitors I beat," Babcock said. "Every race I beat a few able-bodied people and always have a chuckle over that."
Babcock has even qualified for the United States Paralympic Trials in swimming in the 50-meter freestyle and 100-meter freestyle. She could potentially compete in the 2012 London Paralympic Games. However, her goal is to qualify for the paratriathlon at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Brazil.
Babcock can qualify for the Brazil Paralympics by one of two ways. She could make the cut by competing well in the 2015 National Paratriathlon Series. The other way is to win her category in the 2016 Paratriathlon National Championship.
Besides competing in triathlons, Babcock is continuing her education. After graduating from North Carolina State in 2008, she is now studying for an additional master's degree in exercise science at North Carolina.
"One side effect of the accident is I realized that life is short," Babcock said. "So I'm gonna do what I love to do. I like the environment, but I love fitness, so I think I'm gonna stick with that."


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The Medium Rucksack in Deerskin with Resin Chain
€1,650.00 €1,650.00
All orders will be fulfilled by Burberry Limited and shipped from the UK. When you place your order, you accept Burberry's Terms and Conditions and confirm that you have read our Privacy Policy.
Size Guide
Use the Size Guide to choose the best fit for your measurements.
In this window, you can find out the shipping and returns options for the selected item.
In this window, you can contact customer service for further assistance.
- The Rucksack in super-soft, grainy deerskin and reimagined with chunky resin-chain strap detailing. The easy, relaxed structure is influenced by military archive styles from the early 20th century, and is reworked with multiple zip pockets for added functionality.
- 22 x 14 x 33cm/8.7 x 5.5 x 1.1in
- Outer: 100% deerskin
- Trim: 100% calf leather
- Back panel: 100% polyamide
- Lining: 71% cotton, 29% polyamide
- Three external zip pockets, one internal slip pocket, one internal zip pocket
- Leather top handle, adjustable canvas and chain shoulder straps
- Buckle, press-stud and drawstring closures
- Hand-painted edges
- Polished metal hardware
- Raised Burberry lettering at the front
- Made in Italy
Item 40532641
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Autraya wrote:Gothik <--- points at the 'K' as in the original derevation of the word, not with a 'c'.
Also the Antichrist MEP isn't mentioned, please update.
Updates done.
RonnieDaking wrote:i like my anime like I like my women, from japan and speaking english
ArashinomeAMV wrote:lol have fun updating the new forum URLs for all those <_<
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In an unexpected turn of events, Samsung has been granted a temporary stay on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus injunction which allows the device to be sold until July 12th. Judge Lucy Koh issued the temporary stay as the courts awaits to hear "Apple's response." If you're a bit confused, you're not the only one. Details are still vague and it seems no one knows what Apple needs to respond about. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus is still listed as "coming soon" on Google Play, but we could see the device reappear on the store before the handset's Android 4.1 update is in place which is expected to remove the infringing universal search capability from the handset.
Update: We've just heard that the Samsung Galaxy Nexus is now available on Google Play. While the handset can be purchased, the shipping estimate is listed at 1-2 weeks. It seems Google is still intent on having Android 4.1 installed on the Galaxy Nexus even though Samsung has been granted a temporary stay on the injunction.


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Google defines blogs as sites that use RSS and other structured feeds and update content on a regular basis. On their Blog Search FAQ page, they describe this service as, "Blog Search is Google search technology focused on blogs. Google is a strong believer in the self-publishing phenomenon represented by blogging, and we hope Blog Search will help our users to explore the blogging universe more effectively, and perhaps inspire many to join the revolution themselves."
While Google's web search has included blogs for some time, and Google News lists some blogs as news sources, they limit their choice of blogs in their News Search to what they consider reputable blogs. Google has excluded news sources from the results in the blog search, except in rare cases, so there is little overlap between Google News and Google Blog Search. (Side note: I have yet to find information on what Google considers to be a reputable blog.)
On September 14, 2005, Chris Sherman of Search Engine Watch said, "Now that Google has launched blog search, expect the other major search engines to follow suit fairly quickly. All have been feverishly working on blog search over the past year, and now that Google is first out the gate the others will likely move quickly." He was indeed right.
We heard some time ago that MSN began quietly testing blog search capabilities after partnering with Moreover Technologies, but that was clear back in January of 2005. There's been a good deal of speculation since then, but there is no formal word yet on what is going on over at MSN in regard to the blogosphere search, even though MSN held the "MSN Search Champs Camp," with a primary focus on integrating blogs into its search results.
Yahoo stepped up to the plate, however, and quickly followed suit behind Google and launched their blog search in mid-October. But Yahoo is taking a different approach to its blogs and news searches, which has the journalistic community in an uproar. According to Reuters, Yahoo News, one of the world's most popular Internet media destinations, has begun testing an expanded news search system that includes not only news stories and blogs but also user-contributed photos and related Web links. Yahoo said its move to "…combine professionally edited news alongside the work of grassroots commentators promises to enrich the sources of information on breaking news events."
"Traditional media doesn't have the time and resources to cover all the stories," Joff Redfern, product director for Yahoo Search said. "It really does add substantially to what you are looking at when you are looking for news."
{mospagebreak title=Is This Journalism?}
The new Yahoo searching system for finding news has essentially three levels. The first level of search results starts with the links to top ten stories and related images from mainstream news organizations on the main Yahoo News site. Then, they diverge from there. Readers searching for further details will be taken to a second-level news site, which splits the page between news from 6,500 professional sources and links to the hundreds of thousands of blogs available from its syndication service.
It is in this level that professional journalists have the ethical issue, because the expanded search just stops short of blurring all lines between edited news and self-publishing. One could even go so far as to say that professional journalists are almost outraged at this blend of what they consider reputable news and the-average-Joe's weblog.
"We do try to demarcate what is mainstream media and what is user-generated content so that there is no confusion there," Redfern said. But for the professional journalist, this may not be enough. To the untrained eye, searchers may not understand the subtle difference. They also may simply not care.
There are two valid drastic views for either side that I want to point out. One is from the voice of the professional media, and the other is from the bloggers. These same bloggers feel that it is the same school of thought that has prompted Yahoo's approach to blending blogs with and news sources.
What is Journalism?
Journalism is defined as, "the profession of reporting or photographing or editing news stories for one of the media, or a style of writing for presenting bare facts to describe news events." Journalism is also considered a discipline of collecting, verifying, reporting and analyzing information gathered regarding current events, including trends, issues and people.
To be honest, there is really nothing in the definition of journalism that states that someone who doesn't write for money, or have edited content, or even receive a particular qualification, is not a journalist. In short, there is nothing which dictates the difference between the professional and the blogger. In fact, blogging can certainly qualify as journalism.
{mospagebreak title=The Professional's View of Journalism}
The Professional's View of Journalism
From the point of view of the professional journalist, though, putting blogs side by side with news is a flat-out insult.
A media studies professor at Syracuse University, Robert Thompson, said it was "important to preserve the distinctions between professional journalism and personal commentary."
His definition of professional journalism is "reporting which adheres to standards of accuracy and writing subjected to an editorial process, and all done with an eye to journalistic ethics." He then added that journalism often falls short of these goals.
"There is a distinction between something that has gone through an editorial process as opposed to something put up by someone that has been through none of those processes," Thompson said. Perhaps, then, it the issue of accountability that Thompson feels distinguishes true journalism from someone's blog opinions.
Professional media people that support Thompson's view aren't simply being prudish, but in their opinion, why should the bloggers receive just as much credit for their fact-or-fiction opinion, as those that have worked hard in the industry to make a name for themselves, and use a set of standards and ethics to do so? Should the long hours of study, education, blood, sweat, and tears fly out the window with this approach to journalism made by the blogosphere, only to become deprecated or diluted because anyone can report on the news? I can understand their frustration in a way. Why should someone and their opinions (whether fact or speculation), without the same qualifications in the field, be given possibly more weight with the community than the opinion of someone who has to be accountable for their factuality?
It's the same frustration I felt when I found out that a good friend of mine, who barely knew how to turn on a computer, announced she was going to start building websites. Because she was able to make an investment in an out-of-the-box developing program, she suddenly became a web developer? After all, it was I that attended the classes and worked hard to understand web languages, yet here she is, completely unqualified, and now making a nice living at it. And even though she still doesn't even know what HTML stands for, it makes no difference to her. It feels like she cheated, in a way. And that's how these professional journalists feel about bloggers. The mere fact that someone has an opinion on something and writes about it, in no way makes them a journalist; but to categorize them all in with the actual journalists is a very upsetting idea.
{mospagebreak title=The Other Side}
The Other Side
On the other hand, you have those same bloggers, who may or may not be qualified to report on what they consider news, feel that this view is nothing more than a symptom of jealousy. They think the professional journalists are acting like spoiled children, who petulantly stamp their feet and declare, "It's not fair!" Because they've gotten their way for so long, and now the tables are turning, it probably does feel unfair.
What may bother these journalists the most is the idea that many bloggers, who are not motivated by money or fame, may actually be writing better articles and news stories than the paid journalists are. The big fear here could be that blogging may make the career journalist obsolete.
When reading the news, it does occur to me that there is almost always a biased slant to the story, as it is difficult for humans to be objective on any subject. Many might disagree with me here, but how many times do you see a news story where facts make up about 20 percent of an article, and the rest is fluffed with opinion and hearsay? What makes a paid journalist more qualified than you or I to report on the same issues? What makes his or her opinion more important that ours?
In the Reuter's article, they reported on talking to media critic Jeff Jarvis, author of the blog Buzzmachine. He had stated that he felt like major sources of news sites such as Yahoo and Google patronized bloggers and treated them as if they were secondary sources of news. Most of your paid journalists, I'm sure, would agree that they are secondary.
Jarvis, who is a former TV critic for TV Guide and People magazines, scoffed at the notion that journalists have some sort of a shared set of professional standards, or code of ethics, if you will, and that they are better trained or more trustworthy than bloggers.
He said, "What made the voice of the people somehow less important than the paid professional journalist?" he asked. "You don't need to have a degree, you don't need to have a paycheck, you don't need to have a byline," Jarvis said. "If you inform the public, you are committing an act of journalism," he declared.
In fact, it is often that paycheck and byline that might motivate the journalist's bias on the story in the first place. What motive does a blogger have for introducing a bias? No more motive than anyone, I suppose. But you will time and time again hear arguments that only the pros have a handle on what is really newsworthy.
While it seems an unspoken code of ethics in the media industry to carefully separate out the "news" from the "newsworthy," it is certainly not the way we as humans think and interact. When we talk or think about something that is interesting to us, we don't separate our knowledge of factual information from our other impressions. So what really makes the news newsworthy? And further, who decided it to be such?
{mospagebreak title=News or Newsworthy}
I think it's important to point out the difference between news and newsworthy. The definition of news is "information about recent events or happenings, especially as reported by newspapers, periodicals, radio, or television," or "a presentation of such information, as in a newspaper or on a newscast." The definition of newsworthy is "of sufficient interest or importance to the public to warrant reporting in the media." The mere definition of newsworthy is indicative of someone's, or a group of someone's, opinion. After all, what is of interest or important to you may be an entirely different matter to me.
In media trends, it seems that only the bad news really gets the attention. Unfortunately, the media's emphasis on bad news is intrinsic to journalism: the attitude that if nothing is going wrong, it's not really newsworthy doesn't fly with a lot of people. It really is rare that you seen breaking news in which a good thing is happening. Throw in rampant bias based upon political, religious, or racial views, and suddenly, it really ceases to be news at all, even if it may be considered newsworthy.
In Yahoo's own blog, they give a poignant example: "During Hurricane Katrina millions of people came to Yahoo! News for authoritative information. At the same time thousands of bloggers were posting first-hand accounts, photos, personal stories, and opinions. But without mainstream exposure, many important voices went unheard." The professional media somewhere along the way decided that this simply wasn't newsworthy. I ask you: who gave them the authority to decide this for the rest of the community? Is the media the ultimate expert on what I consider newsworthy? Or did our need, as humans, to be shocked and distressed, determine that for us? I honestly believe that it boils down to what really sells.
I can see both sides of the argument, and can agree with each on its own merit. But what is clear to me is that we have indeed moved closer towards leveling the playing field a little bit between journalists and bloggers, at least where the search engines are concerned. The voice of the community should be heard. It is, after all, the community's voice that is the driving force of what is of particular interest, and therefore newsworthy.


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Melanie R. Thornton is excited to serve as the 2017-2018 GSA-USGS Congressional Science Fellow. Thornton will be working in the office of Senator Tom Udall (D-NM) on a range of science policy issues.
Melanie was raised in Houston, Texas, and earned the Girl Scout's Gold Award, where she collaborated with a YMCA camp, serving underprivileged youth, to create an activity program focused on education and wellbeing. Melanie earned a B.S. cum laude from Texas A&M University in 2011 with an Environmental Geoscience major and Geography minor. While at Texas A&M, she participated in the Research Experience for Undergraduates program and wrote her undergraduate thesis on the Southern Ocean and Antarctica's contribution to changing climatic conditions.
Melanie received an M.S. (2012) and Ph.D. (2017) in Environmental and Natural Resource Sciences from Washington State University (WSU). Her doctoral research was part of an interdisciplinary project, supported by a USDA-NIFA grant, which sought to address water resource sustainability in the Pacific Northwest. The focus of her research was on the Spokane River Basin, where she utilized collaborative modeling and worked with stakeholders and scientists to jointly solve regional watershed challenges. She developed an integrated surface-groundwater hydrology model, and facilitated workshops with stakeholders that guided the development of short-term recommendations for bi-state water management and education.
Melanie has extensive leadership expertise, having served as the graduate-professional student body president at WSU for two years, and as Director of Communication for the National Association of Graduate-Professional Students. She has experience in collaboration and communicating scientific information, as her stakeholder engagement project required leading meetings and workshops with both scientific and non-scientific audiences.
She is enthusiastic about collaborations between science, policy and public outreach, and developing strategies that use science to empower humanity for the betterment of our communities. In her fellowship year, she is looking forward to utilizing her communication and problem-solving skills, and deepening her understanding of how Congress and federal agencies work together to draft public policies and prioritize funding.
Put your expertise to work helping shape science and technology policy on Capitol Hill. The GSA-USGS Congressional Science Fellow spends a year working as a staff member for a Member of Congress or congressional committee.
If you are a geoscientist with a broad scientific background, experience in applying scientific knowledge to societal challenges, and a passion for helping shape the future of the geoscience profession, GSA and the USGS invite your application before the 15 January deadline. Please read our detailed fellowship page for more information.
Learn more about fellows' experiences by reading current and past Congressional Science Fellow reports.
The Congressional Science Fellowship is offered by the Geological Society of America and the U.S. Geological Survey as part of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Congressional Science and Engineering Fellows Program.


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PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The sheriff heading up the search for a young Oklahoma man missing in the wilds of southeastern Oregon has cancelled a planned search flight because of high winds.
Weather forced cancelled searches on Friday and Saturday.
Nineteen-year-old Dustin Self has been missing a month since setting out from his family home outside Oklahoma City to test himself against the wilderness.
He also planned to check out churches that practice a South American religion that uses a hallucinogenic tea as a sacrament.
Sheriff Dave Glerup says Self was hallucinating in his last call to his family, and told his girlfriend he was seeing plants coming out of the ground and running.
Glerup says he thinks Self is either dead or walked off Steens Mountain and hitched a ride somewhere.


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Who is Ghoul Friday?
I'm a Canadian artist living in Toronto, Ontario. When I'm not transforming my house into a ghoulish scene at Halloween, I'm creating mini-monsters for local shows in the city (and occasionally, for sale online).
But that's jumping to the end of the story. Here's the beginning...
It started when my mother let me spray paint a tombstone on the concrete wall of our basement for my Grade 4 Halloween party.
It was my first real Halloween party, and I wanted it to be great. I constructed a haunted house the length of the basement and lead people through dangling, slimy snakes hanging from the ceiling - just one example of the many forms and obstacles waiting for them in the shadow. I hadn't gotten over my fear of the dark, and I was deathly afraid of being in the basement alone (never mind with the lights off), but to make sure I could see well enough to safely guide each guest one by one through the haunted space, I sat alone in the pitch black basement for 20 minutes before the party goers even started to arrive.
That's when she was born, the little ghoul in the basement. Since then, she has come back to me every year, usually in late summer, ready to build creatures for Halloween. Sure, she's there throughout the other months, peeking through my eyes at the newest horror film being released, or tickling my neck so I turn to see the brochure for the Festival of Fear coming to the city.
But it's in August when she whispers "Is it time to sit in the dark?"
Yes Friday. It's time. What friends shall we create this year?
Great Ideas
Thanks a lot for this great ideas!! I'm a young women from Germany and searching for some scary subjects for my Halloween-party this year. Your Explanations are very useful. Some years ago, I'd made a mummy, some skulls and tombstones for a graveyard. The Mummy and the skulls I've made from pappmache like you- but your heads lokk much better. So I'll try in your turn this year!
Have a great Halloween!!! Thanks much!!
Greetings from Germany!
Thanks so much for these
Thanks so much for these brilliant game ideas. I have searched lots of websites and these are definitely the best ones I have come across. Thanks
Great site!
Love, love, LOVE YOUR SITE!
I throw a Halloween party every year and searched online all morning before I found your site. I was very pleasantly surprised to find games that did not involve sticking your face in the water and that were very appropriate for adult parties.
Thanks so much and Happy Halloween!!
are you on twitter
Hey there, I hope you remember us. Are you on Twitter? All the best in the new year.
Michael and Lewelyn (from the harlequin sale)
I was thinking...
Though I know it refers to something altogether different, playfully derived from 'Robinson Crusoe' and all that, the name Ghoul Friday puts me in mind of Casual Friday or Aloha Shirt Friday. I think we'd all be better off if business offices designated a Ghoul Friday where everyone dressed as a bogey, boogeyman, haint, spook, bugbear, goblin, phantasm, specter, or spook for the day. But maybe that's just me.
plague doctor
Maybe you've already seen Tom Banwell's site, but if not, check it out. He has some plague doctor masks that you might find inspiring. Sure makes me want to take up resin and leather work.
Great site
Just found you and I love it! Keep posting and I will share my page when its finished.
You, my friend are my idol! I'm getting ready to have my 4th Annual Halloween bash! I am always looking for ideas to steal and your website is absolutely fantastic! Thank you so much - will keep checking in frequently. You have such an imagination!
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Readers comment on the biomass plant, gun control and the fiscal cliff.
Why double-down on a bad biomass deal?
The Dec. 26th Sun editorial referred to critics of the GREC biomass plant as gripers. These highly intelligent and well informed citizens spent years presenting documented evidence to the city commission showing the GRU/GREC biomass contract to be unnecessary and an expensive and risky deal — asking them to exit the contract.
Now that GRU's general manager recently admitted GREC violated the terms of the contract by selling a portion of its ownership without giving GRU right to first offer, the contract could very well be void.
I do not know any investor who would double down on a bad investment, so why should GRU customers be forced to do so? Surely not to enrich the GREC investors and give city commissioners political cover.
Debbie Martinez,
Here's an idea: Dissolve Congress
I am not much of an Obama fan, but these days I'm even less of a Congress fan. How about trying the following:
We empower Obama to dissolve Congress, stop their paychecks and send them all home. Give them two weeks to clear everything out of their offices, then send the Capitol Police around to lock the buildings.
After a few more weeks, when the hullabaloo dies down, send the National Guard into the buildings to remove all the furniture, equipment etc., take it down to the National Mall and have a huge garage sale. Give the proceeds to a worthy charitable organization.
Then, open the vacated Congressional buildings to the homeless and name it the National Homeless Center.
Maybe in 2014 we can try another election. But who knows?
Oh! Did I mention that we stop their paychecks?
Ed Burns,
No quick-fix to what ails our society
When will our politicians and the American public wake up and address what the real issues are concerning our country and stop trying to make a quick fix of our problems.
The anti-gunners have been waiting for a reason to jam their true agenda down the average American's throat. That is a ban on all firearms.
Poll after poll taken from average Americans, many not even firearm owners, support firearm ownership and the Second Amendment. The tragedy in Connecticut is how bad our society has become.
The Brady Bill requires a instant background check in all states. The problem is it does not include a mental health check. This is due to the federal HIPAA law.
Connecticut already has an assault weapon ban in place. So you have a mentally ill individual who stole his mother's weapons.
No firearm ban could have prevented this tragedy.
Robert Monica,
Nuclear power is vital to Florida's future
As the acrimonious discussions over the work in progress (WIP) financing of nuclear plants in Florida continues, it is important to keep sight of how important this technology is for our state.
The average plant provides 3,500 jobs that are highly skilled and high paying. Altogether the region surrounding a plant benefits from over $400 million a year in economic activity, of which $40 million is in salaries.
That is on top of the fact that there are essentially no air pollution or greenhouse gas emissions.
There is no question nuclear energy will grow in this country, as we cannot meet our country's economic and environmental goals without a substantial contribution from nuclear. In that energy future, Florida will best be served by having our own plants.
Otherwise, Florida will end up importing nuclear electricity from our neighbors and exporting jobs and money to those other states.
James Tulenko,
Good guys and bad guys and bullets
Wayne LaPierre says "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun."
Adam Lanza used a semi-automatic rifle with a 30-shot clip and was protected by body armor. So, using LaPierre's logic, the only way to stop another Lanza armed with a semi-automatic rifle with a 30-shot clip and protected by body armor is to place a "good guy" armed with a semi-automatic rifle with a 30-shot clip and protected by body armor in all 98,817 K-12 schools in the U.S.
Of course those 98,817 "good guys" with semi-automatic rifles with 30-shot clips and protected by body armor may not be on high alert every moment every day all year.
Hmm, maybe we need two or three "good guys" armed with semi-automatic rifles with 30-shot clips and protected by body armor in all 98,817 schools.
Geoff Pietsch,
Get the facts about guns for yourself
There's a lot of rancor, misinformation, and outright lies on both sides of the gun control debate. It behooves everyone to educate themselves as to the facts of an issue in order to wade through all the garbage that may be presented by both factions.
As an aid in your quest for truth, I would like to suggest the following website: www.gunsandcrime.org. It is a somewhat scholarly site that has collated a great deal of information and statistics. I would also suggest emailing the link to your representatives, state and federal.
To quote the introduction to the website: "If you don't care enough to learn, please have the decency to avoid doing things that might eliminate the ability of others to protect themselves, their families, their neighbors, and you — or you might steal the liberty of our descendants."
Glen Saucier,
The NRA's true goal: Gun sales galore
The NRA's vice president is an excellent salesman for guns. First let us make guns available to criminals and all — under the disguise of the Second Amendment — then sell guns to good guys to defend themselves.
Thus for any gun sold to a criminal, you end up selling innumerable guns to the good guys to defend themselves.
I wonder if this NRA official would be saying the same thing, if God forbid, one of his own were the victim of this gun madness!
There will always be bad guys, and to make guns available to them is criminal.
Where is the need for Army-style assault weapons and magazines carrying scores of bullets?
If we were to follow the NRA's advice we will be providing guns to every patient, every doctor, every priest, every teacher, every student et al. What an unimaginable scenario!
Nand Sharma,
Target practice
Florida state Rep. Dennis Baxley has proposed arming primary school educators. So kindergarten teacher Suzy Sweetcheeks is supposed to go up against an AR-15 toting armored nutcase who has just blasted his way in through the school's front door with her personal popgun?
An annual training requirement for NRA members should be "modern sporting reality:" Shoot a big clip and turn in at least 1 target featuring a 5-year-old girl in a red frilly dress.
David A. Carlson,


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Solomonoff's Secret wrote:
MightySpoon wrote:
How is someone being a racist, homophobic, and sexist petultant child entertaining to you?
Huh? I thought that person was saying that women and gays should compromise only as an analogy to gun control advocates saying gun owners should compromise to argue that the latter is just as wrong as the former. But maybe I misread it.
It isn't just as wrong as the former. Your moral compass is broken if you think it is. Dietz isn't Rosa Parks, and Feinstein isn't Gerhard Wagner.
Get a grip.


text:
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Jennifer Cowgill and Jessica Johnson of Devoted Builders share how their company got started in the TriCities in Washington. Devoted Builders is at the forefront of energy efficient technologies for new homes in Kennewick, Pasco, and Richland.
Watch the video below to learn about Brenda's experience after working with Devoted Builders.


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A bachelor from McMinnville
McMinnville native Chris Siegfried will be featured tonight on "The Bachelorette" -- he's one of the four remaining bachelors int he running for Desiree Hartsock's heart.
In tonight's episode, the bachelorette visits the hometowns of each of her final four choices. Look for scenes featuring Siegfried's home and his dad, McMinnville chiropractor Dr. George Siegfried, in the show that airs at 8 o'clock tonight on ABC Channel 2.
Siegfried played baseball in McMinnville before going on to pitch for the University of Portland team. Drafted by the Chicago Cubs, he pitched for their minor league team from 2007 to 2011.
He now works part-time as a model as well as working for HomeStreet Mortgage Lenders in Seattle.